Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Exam is not a horror flick but more of a psychological thriller. The easy comparison is to say its one of those trapped in one room with some offbeat characters type movie. Like Cube, The Killing Room and others it takes that one setting gimmick and milks it for all its worth.

I have to say I liked it.

When you have one of these one room movies, your characters have to be very interesting. And we get a mish mash of characters from the angry Brit to the muttering Frenchman.

The movie is like the Apprentice but with a more insanity and yet somewhat futuristic feel. The candidates try to decipher what the question may be and do everything they can to solve the final test riddle.

I'm not describing it well so you can read the plot below.

Eight talented candidates have reached the final stage of selection to join the ranks of a mysterious and powerful corporation. Entering a windowless room, where an armed guard keeps watch, they are given 80 minutes to answer one simple question.

The invigilator outlines three very specific rules that they must obey – and if they don't, they will be disqualified:

1. They must not speak to the invigilator or the guard. 2. They must not spoil their papers. 3. They must not leave the room.

The invigilator starts the clock and leaves.The candidates turn over their question papers, only to find that they are completely blank.

Tensions rise as the clock counts down to zero, and each candidate must decide how far they are prepared to go to win the ultimate job.

So who are these candidates?

We got a conniving Brit, a brotha, a Middle Eastern looking dude, a hot blonde, a brunette psych major, an Asian hottie and a muttering Frenchman.

Suffice it to say the Brit takes charge and starts to try to figure out what the question and answer is. Lots of bickering and info is exchanged between all the parties and they try several different methods to see if their papers hold the question.

But suffice it to say, it's filled with lots of old reliable reality show cliche antics, characters and double and triple twists. Exam makes you pay attention to every syllable each character utters, makes you notice the room they are in and has some high tense suspense scenes that leave you on edge.

It's like a stage play in form and creates a mythos pretty quickly. Good solid flick that had me go "Ah Ha!"at the end. Sometimes it's those type of flicks that you need to break the monotony of a horror-thon.